Brian Deane on Irish film funding, Oscars and Berlin

Ahead of Sunday’s celebration of Irish Short Films in London, we catch up with Award winning director Brian Deane

Brian has had many successes over the last few years with a number of films including the hugely successful “Volkswagen Joe” which picked up awards in Rome, Boston, Dublin, Galway, Britain and Chicago in 2014 and also won the Best Short Drama award at the Celtic Media Awards.

He won his first short film award for his graduation film ‘Without Words’ in Cannes in 2008 as part of Spike Lee’s International Film Festival.

Ireland garnered an unprecedented number of Oscar nominations this year, with wins including Best Short for Benjamin Cleary’s ‘Stutterer’. We asked Brian what this could mean for the future of Irish film.

Brian Deane

“I was absolutely delighted for Ben and his Oscar success, which is even more impressive considering it’s his first film.

“Volkswagen Joe (Brian’s 2013 short) was actually on the long list with a number of other Irish films this year so it was amazing that one of our shorts made it over the line.

“Hopefully Ben’s success along with our other 13 nominations will have an effect on swaying public opinion at home to restoring the Irish Film Board’s funding which was halved in 2008.

“There are many wonderful film projects both features and shorts that won’t be funded this year because the IFB simply doesn’t have the money.

“In the short term I think Ben’s win may get some of the international festivals to have a closer look at Irish short films and maybe this will open a few doors for us all.

“The IFB are currently reviewing their short film funding schemes so I’d love to see an introductory IFB live action short funding scheme for first time directors with budgets around €10-15K.”

Brian was recently chosen to take part in The Berlinale Talents, and annual summit and networking platform of the Berlin International Film Festival for 300 outstanding creatives from the fields of film and drama series.

We asked him what his journey was like.

“The application is not for the faint hearted. I probably wrote close to 20,000 words and sent in my four short films and my webseries too.

“My time in Berlin was pretty mind blowing, I learned such a huge amount about working in Europe, festivals and of course filmmaking.

“Everyone involved is so passionate, driven and talented you can’t help but to be inspired.

“It’s also where I hatched the plan to make my first feature and met my collaborator Wiktor Piåtkowski from Poland. The Berlinale also helped open the door for a Swiss/Irish co-production that TW Films is looking at for next year.”

On Sunday Brian’s award winning film ‘Céad Ghrá’ (First Love) screens as part of the St. Patrick’s Irish Film Festival in London’s Regent Street Cinema, alongside 14 other short films.

The film is a nostalgic coming of age story about two young boys in pursuit of their first crush.

“It sounds like a very simple story but there quiet a few layers to it. We wanted viewers to completely relate to both boys and that excitement we all felt as kids when our hearts fluttered for the first time” said Brian.

Watch out for more of Brian’s work on the festival circuit including at the Dead by Dawn festival later this month in Edinburgh as well as Cleveland, Dingle, Belfast, The International Horror and Sci-Fi festival in Phoenix and the Irish Film Festival Boston.